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Portal:Kenya

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Kenya portal
Kenya portal

Introduction

Location of Kenya
The flag of Kenya

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi. Its second-largest and oldest city is Mombasa, a major port city located on Mombasa Island. Other major cities within the country include Kisumu, Nakuru & Eldoret. Going clockwise, Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest (though much of that border includes the disputed Ilemi Triangle), Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, Tanzania to the southwest, and Lake Victoria and Uganda to the west.

Kenya's geography, climate and population vary widely. In western, rift valley counties, the landscape includes cold, snow-capped mountaintops (such as Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana on Mount Kenya) with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates. In other areas, there are dry, arid and semi-arid climates as well as absolute deserts (such as Chalbi Desert and Nyiri Desert).

Kenya's earliest inhabitants included some of the first humans to evolve from ancestral members of the genus Homo. Ample fossil evidence for this evolutionary history has been found at Koobi Fora. Later, Kenya was inhabited by hunter-gatherers similar to the present-day Hadza people. According to archaeological dating of associated artifacts and skeletal material, Cushitic speakers first settled in the region's lowlands between 3,200 and 1,300 BC, a phase known as the Lowland Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. Nilotic-speaking pastoralists (ancestral to Kenya's Nilotic speakers) began migrating from present-day South Sudan into Kenya around 500 BC. Bantu people settled at the coast and the interior between 250 BC and 500 AD.

European contact began in 1500 AD with the Portuguese Empire, and effective colonisation of Kenya began in the 19th century during the European exploration of Africa. Modern-day Kenya emerged from a protectorate established by the British Empire in 1895 and the subsequent Kenya Colony, which began in 1920. Mombasa was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate, which included most of what is now Kenya and southwestern Somalia, from 1889 to 1907. Numerous disputes between the UK and the colony led to the Mau Mau revolution, which began in 1952, and the declaration of Kenya's independence in 1963. After independence, Kenya remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The country's current constitution was adopted in 2010, replacing the previous 1963 constitution. (Full article...)


View over Kakamega forest.

Kakamega Forest is a tropical rainforest situated in the Kakamega, Vihiga, and Nandi counties of Kenya, northwest of the capital Nairobi, and near the border with Uganda. It is Kenya's only tropical rainforest and is said to be Kenya's last remnant of the ancient Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once spanned the continent. (Full article...)

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Beach in Robinson Island Kenya
Beach in Robinson Island Kenya
Beach close to Robinson Island Kenya a couple of kilometres north of Malindi town, Kilifi County.

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Nakuru skyline

Nakuru is capital of Kenya's Nakuru County. It is the largest urban centre in midwestern Kenya with 307,990 inhabitants and the fourth largest urban centre in the country. It lies about 1850 m above sea level. (Read more...)

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View of the coast from Msambweni Beach Hotel

Msambweni (meaning "land of Msambwe") in Swahili) is a small fishing town and constituency in Kwale County of southeastern Kenya, formerly in Kwale District of Coast Province. The origin of the name, Msambwe (plural Misambwe) refers to a hardy and wild fruits (sambwe) tree indigenous to the area. A few remnants of the Msambwe trees are still existing at Mkunguni Beach, Sawa Sawa Village. By road, Msambweni is 55.4 kilometres (34.4 mi) south of Mombasa and 46.5 kilometres (28.9 mi) northeast of Lunga Lunga on the Tanzanian border. As of 2009, the town had a population of 11,985 people.

Fishing is the primary source of income, although coconut palm, buxa coloring, cashew nuts and fruits are produced for trade. Because of its reef and extensive beaches, the snorkeling industry is gaining in popularity in Msambweni, and holiday cottages and hotels have sprung up in the area, such as the Msambweni Beach House. The town is noted for its leprosarium and contains the Msambweni District Hospital. The Koromojo Dam is immediately north of the town. (Full article...)

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In the news

Wikinews Kenya portal
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13 June 2025 – Kenya Finance Bill protests
Kenyan police constable James Mukhwana is arrested over the death of blogger Albert Ojwang, which prompted protests and clashes with police this week. (Al Jazeera) (BBC News)
12 June 2025 – Death of Albert Ojwang
Police fire tear gas at demonstrators gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, to protest against the police and its chief, Eliud Lagat, after blogger Albert Ojwang is confirmed to be killed in custody by the police force, demanding Lagat's resignation. (DW)
10 June 2025 – 2025 Kenya bus crash
Five tourists are killed and 35 others are injured in a bus crash in Gichage, Nyandarua County, Kenya. (Gulf News) (Economic Times)
21 May 2025 – Kenya–Uganda relations
Kenya admits that it assisted Uganda in the kidnapping of opposition politician Kizza Besigye in Nairobi in November 2024. Besigye was later taken to Uganda, where he is currently on trial. (Barron's)
18 May 2025 –
Kenyan politician Martha Karua, who legally represents incarcerated Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu, is arrested at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and set for deportation. (France 24)
30 April 2025 –
Kenyan parliament member Charles Ong'ondo is shot to death in Nairobi by unknown gunmen on a motorcycle in an apparent assassination. (BBC News)

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Credit: Matt Rudge
Mombasa is the largest urban centre in Kenya's coastal region and the 2nd largest city in the country it also hosts East and Central Africa's Largest port.

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